Do Tell More!

"Haha, you don't want to see what gift I got your sister?"

Bolt stopped, and then under everyone's expectant gaze, Hazed solemnly pulled out a small Jade Vail no bigger than his fist with a tiny but awe-inspiring Flame within it and passed it to Anza.

"This is the Flame of the Blue Star, a Tier 8 True Flame that's rather fitting for our Alchemist Star Priestess, don't you guys think?" Hazed asked with a smile.

This gorgeous flame was a brilliant silver at the tips, a majestic purple in the center, and it had every single shade of blue in between.

Blue had given him a huge Spatial Ring with a few things inside it, but none of them were even close to as valuable as this True Flame.

Sadly they didn't have any True Flame Cultivation Methods, so the only way to improve it would be to feed it other True Elemental Flames, but that would be a waste because of how many it many weaker True Flames it would need to devour before it could become stronger.

Bolt and Leanna nodded numbly, but Anza dove into Hazed talking him to the ground.

Who knows if she was trying to hug him and be caught, or if she'd meant to tackle him though because she didn't seem surprised by the results.

"Thank you so much!" She said excitedly as she rubbed her head into Hazed's bosom with so much effort, and for so long, that he started to second guess his gender.

"Anza! Behave yourself!" Leanna shouted, feeling second-hand embarrassment.

Hazed flicked her forehead, "My silly little puppy-girl you still have to hurry and refine the flame, it's time to focus."

Anza nodded obediently and then she got off Hazed before leaving to go to refine the Flame with her mother following closely behind.

Then, finally, Hazed turned to Bolt who was still in the doorway, "Alright, now I'm ready. Let's go Bolt."

***

At the bottom of the mountain, a group of Cultivators was gathered and discussing matters after they'd triggered an Alarm Array.

"This is a good sign that there is an alarm here, which means the Herb Garden should be real. However, we must be careful of more dangerous arrays moving forward." The leader said confidently.

This was Owen Forest, the heir and eldest son of the Forest Clan; a smaller medium-sized Clan from San Fran.

Owen turned to an absolutely stunning young lady who wore a bored expression on her face and said excitedly, "Young Fairy Winter, we've finally arrived at the Herb Garden!"

Not only was this Young Lady a genius and a world-class beauty, but she was a disciple from the only Major Sect from the West Coast and one of the few remaining Major Sects left in the Americas.

She had a beauty that perfectly matched her name, and many people believed her personality matched too; although that wasn't entirely true.

Without even looking at him Winter replied, "If you can get me the Secret Realm Herb Garden, I will get you into the Soaring Sect."

She then 'gently' reminded him, "However, if you wasted this much time for nothing you should be prepared to compensate me fairly."

Owen smiled bitterly when he thought about how expensive it would be to 'Compensate' her if they failed, but he could only nod.

As they continued up the mountain Owen worked up his courage and said, "While getting into the Soaring Sect is important to me, winning your favor is the real reason I'm doing this..."

Suddenly a monstrous Spiritual Presence washed over their entire party shocking everyone, even the much stronger Winter.

"Oh, you're giving away my Herb Garden to win a girl's favor? Do tell more!"

Winter looked around and when she didn't anything she clasped her hands uphill and said, "Senior, I'm Young Fairy Winter from the Soaring Sect. We had no idea that this place was occupied…"

Hazed scoffed, "Ha? Do you think I'm an idiot. You've put a tracer on one of my people, and then followed them all the way home. On top of that you've mentioned your Sect... Are you threatening me?"

Hazed used some of his Spiritual Essence to slam Owen to the ground as he continued, "Following my people with plans to rob and/or murder them Is this the will of your Soaring Sect?"

Winter looked at Owen and asked with barely containable anger, "Is that true?"

Knowing that it was useless to lie, Owen nodded his head meekly.

Winter stomped her foot, not only was she not getting a Herb Garden she was getting a bunch of trouble instead!

After stopping herself from kicking the downed Owen she turned uphill and bowed, "I'm very sorry Senior, I will make sure that he compensates you for this trouble…"

"Woah there girl you're not leaving yet. All of you are coming up the mountain, but only you're a guest, and you'll only remain a guest as long as you act like one." Hazed warned her sternly.

Winter nodded, she knew better than to cause trouble in front of such a scary senior.

"Bolt, go tie up the prisoners and then meet us at the shack. I'll be watching you with my Spiritual Presence just in case they try anything."

***

"What do you mean you've dealt with the enemies? What happened to you being unable?!" Leanna asked with concern. 

"Something came up and things changed. I didn't suspect a Young Fairy from the Soaring Sect was within their group."

Leanna was shocked, a Sect was a holy existence, sure Hazed had a Sect in name and everything needed to make a nice Sect, but they weren't a true Major Sect. Not yet at least.

"Doesn't that mean we're screwed?" Leanna asked as she paced back and forth.

She felt like she was on a rollercoaster of emotions. 

Hazed smiled, "No, no, calm down, she's on her way up to have some tea with us right now.

Earlier I released my Spiritual Presence at full force, tricking them into believing that I was much more powerful than I am.

If they'd gone all out I would've never had enough Spiritual Presence to take them all out, but since I only had to scare one, and they allowed Bolt to tie the rest up, there is nothing to worry about. Plus, we have Anza here if anything goes south."

Speaking of Anza, her glowing eyes had become much more intense, she gave off a wonderful warm aura, and she broke through to the Low Second Stage of the Qi Condensation Realm, and that's not even mentioning her rise in combat strength or new techniques.

"How are you feeling?" Hazed asked Anza gently.

Anza's face bloomed the most wonderful smile and she replied, "Mm, I'm great! No, better than great, I'm the best I've ever been! Thank you so much for trusting me, I promise not to let you or Luna down!"

Her cheerful personality and words eased most of his worries about her, even though he knew it was rash and stupid to make the choice he made. It was nothing new. You could say the same thing about almost any of his choices to stay and defend the earth in his last life.

Just then there was a soft knock on the door.

"Come on in Winter." Hazed said calmly.

"Pardon the intrusion then Senior…" Winter said as she walked in.

When she looked around and saw two women and one young man she was shocked, 'where is the Senior? And who is this girl? She gives off such a profound feeling and her beauty could be compared to mine!'

Winter wasn't being conceded. She was the top beauty in the Soaring Sect, the perfect 'Ice Princess' that many dreamed about. 

Hazed smiled and said, "You don't have to keep calling me senior by the way, after all, we don't know which one of us is older. And unless we're just talking about Spiritual Presence, you're definitely stronger." Hazed said with a calm smile that felt like a slap to the face to Winter.

She'd been had! There was no senior here at all!

However before she could get too angry he continued, "Calm down little girl, I can still kill you instantly if I'd like to, you know. On top of that, I have inherited a Sect, absorbed a Clan of Alchemist, secured a True Flame for the Head Alchemist, and I have knowledge about future events that no one else in the world does. Information that will save countless lives if used properly. So please, continue to look down on me, especially since I did all of this in one day; and that's not even mentioning the defeating your posse."

Winter grit her teeth and looked at Hazed in frustration, "Grr, you tricked me!"

She couldn't believe she got tricked! If they'd only aggressively attacked with everyone they had then the Herb Garden would've been hers! 

She let out a soft sigh and tried to calm down.

"I gotta admit I'm impressed."

Even though she felt defeated, she wasn't depressed by it.

This man was extremely handsome, his abillities were varied, and he seemed to be from a different world. 

She'd never met someone with his aura or strength, not to mention; those eyes!

She'd never seen something so beautiful in her life, if she could stare into his eyes forever she would!

After thinking it through all the frustration was gone.

She asked with a beautiful smile, "So what would you like for me to do?"

"I would like for you to help me set up an alliance with the Soaring Sect. I know that we are too weak to negotiate properly, but that's why I need your help.

I need you to buy us some time and trick them into believing we're stronger than we are, even if it is only slightly.

We can start with a simple trade alliance, but there are dangerous times coming and we need to strengthen the world as a whole, so I'll want to make it into a full Alliance as soon as possible.

Even though it may seem impossible now, my goal isn't just an alliance with the Soaring Sect, but an Alliance with every single Sect on the Wester Continent by the end of the year."

An Alliance with every single sect?! Was this guy crazy?!

Getting an alliance with even one sect would be impressive, but he wanted to do it with all of them? What about the sects that had blood feuds?! 

This guy just kept getting crazier and crazier!

***